N-butyl acetate can be produced commercially from butyl alcohol and acetic acid by esterification using sulfuric acid as catalyst. In this process, acetic acid, butanol, and sulfuric acid are heated in a reactor to 89° C. to form the n-butyl acetate. Vapors containing butyl acetate, butanol, and water are removed and condensed. The top layer is fed to low boiler column where unreacted alcohol is flashed off and recycled to the reactor. The crude ester mixture undergoes a second distillation to separate the butyl acetate from other by-products. The n-butanol used in this process is usually derived by hydroformylation of propene followed by hydrogenation, while acetic acid is produced commercially by a number of methods such as methanol carbonylation, acetaldehyde oxidation, and ethylene oxidation.
The commercial production of n-butanol and acetic acid both rely on petroleum and natural gas based feedstocks. Further, the production of n-butyl acetate from these reactants requires a multitude of steps involving a number of intermediate products. All of these factors result in a relatively high price for n-butyl acetate.